christopher price

Gronkowski vs. Graham: Elite tight ends share the stage in Foxboro

FOXBORO -- Ferrari or Rolls-Royce? Godfather or GoodFellas? Five Guys or In-N-Out Burger? These are debates with no wrong answer.

Such is the case when it comes to arguing the merits of the NFL’s great young tight ends, Rob Gronkowski of the Patriots and Jimmy Graham of the Saints. The two had their chance to come face-to-face on Tuesday afternoon, as the two teams engaged in the first of two joint practices in advance of their Thursday night game at Gillette Stadium.

Each tight end had their personal highlight on the afternoon, with Graham hauling in a touchdown pass from Drew Brees down the seam (over New England rookie linebacker Dont’a Hightower) and punctuating the score with a dunk over the goalpost. Meanwhile, Gronkowski hauled in a touchdown of his own from Tom Brady in 11-on-11 drills.

“They can run, they can catch, they can run routes, they can block,” said Saints coach Joe Vitt of Graham and Gronkowski. “They can get to the edge and kill you, they can catch it outside the framework of their body, they’re all good dancers, they’re good cooks and they love kids.”

While the two tight ends play down any sort of competition, it’s clear they’re aware that the football world now comes down squarely in one of two camps: you either prefer a Gronk spike or a Graham dunk over the goalpost.

“There’s definitely a little competition there -- me and [Gronkowski], we have similar numbers,” Graham said, who added that if he had to choose between him or Gronkowski or Hernandez, he’d go with himself, adding, “Of course I would.”

“It seems like every writer and every media outlet compares us somehow,” added Graham. “The competition, it’s a friendly competition. It’s really about getting each of our teams ready to play. That’s what it is.”

“I think our teams exploit our talents really well. We’re very similar. And Brady and Brees, they definitely go to us in the red zone. They definitely enable us to use our size and our body down the field.”

“There’s really no competition. He’s a great player,” Gronkowski said. “He’s a guy you can put the film on and see what he’s doing to get open, because he’s doing a great job at it. You can learn from him.”

The two first encountered each other as collegians prior to the combine, when they worked out together at Bommaritos Performance System in Florida. And after easing their way into their respective offenses as rookies in 2010 (Gronkowski had 42 catches for 546 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first year, while Graham had 31 catches for 356 yards and five touchdowns), they combined to decimate the league in 2011. Last season, Gronkowski bulled his way for 90 receptions for 1,327 yards and 17 touchdowns. Meanwhile, the leaner Graham -- a former college basketball player -- finished with 99 catches for 1,310 yards and 11 touchdowns.

“It’s great to have a weapon like Jimmy. It’s kind of ironic that him and Gronkowski came out the same year; I believe Rob was a second-round pick, Jimmy was a third-round pick,” said Brees. “Both those guys have established themselves as probably two of the best tight ends in the league, and they’re still young players, still continuing to get better and better. It’s fun to get them on the same field and to watch them both go at it on different sides of the ball, but still, it just puts in perspective just what great athletes they are and great players.”

While the two haven’t had the chance to connect off the field, they have been able to take certain aspects of each other’s game and try and incorporate them into their own arsenal of moves.

“You watch him play, you watch him get open, it’s clear that Jimmy Graham is a great tight end. Just watching him, what he does, how he gets open,” Gronkowski said of the 6-foot-7, 265-pound Graham and what impresses him about the New Orleans tight end.

“His speed, his separation. He’s good at the long ball, how he goes up and grabs it in the air,” Gronkowski said. “He used to be a basketball player, so it’s kind of cool to see him go up and he grabs the ball at the highest point. That’s something you always want to do when the ball is coming at you.”

“Gronkowski in the red zone, the way he uses his body, the way he uses his size. Me and him are a similar size,” Graham said of the 6-foot-6, 265-pound Gronkowski. “And then [Aaron] Hernandez, the way he runs his routes. He’s a technician on his routes. He’s really shifty. Really gets guys off balance with some quick movements. Those are some of the things I’m trying to put into my game.”

FOXBORO — WEEI.com’s Mike Petraglia and Chris Price discuss the return of LeGarrette Blount to Patriots training camp on Saturday, the first day of full pads practice for the defending Super Bowl champions.

Dickerson and Price discuss the RB position and who will get a majority of the workload. They also talk about missing Revis and the CB position. The boys also get into more Deflategate discussions with callers.

Dickerson and Price are live from Fenway today and kick off NFL Sunday discussing some of the events at Pats training camp this week. Then they get into the court battle between Brady and Goodell and where we go from here? The guys give their predictions on just how many games Brady will in fact sit out. They get into the Chris Mortenson situation after he backed out of the D&C interview. Finally, Trags (Mike Petraglia) of WEEI.com joins the boys live from training camp.

How long will this rebuild take? How much money will it take to keep Bae Crowder? Are Draft Picks even worth anything? With the Danny Ainge not landing any big names in the draft, and unable to lure any big names in free agency, Sam and Ben discussed if the Celtics are doomed moving forward.

Joe and Dave are joined by Pedro who was at the game and had his number 45 retired by the Red Sox in a very touching pregame ceremony. Pedro talks about going into the Hall of Fame, his time in Boston and love for the game of baseball.

The awesomely knowledgeable Fluto Shinzawa calls DJ, Naoko and Pete to talk about his thoughts on the future of the B's. He discusses his column from earlier this week on Cam Neely wanting to give Claude the ax earlier in the season but not getting the ok. Fluto shares his thoughts on Chiarelli's firing, the future for Claude and where the Bruins should go from here. He also gives his opinion on potential moves the team can make, who would fit in here, his thoughts on the NHL playoffs so far and more.

In the final hour of the "midseason finale" as DJ likes to call it, the crew discuss more about the future of the Bruins franchise, the possible power struggle in the front office and who should be the head coach going forward. They talk to intelligent and talented Fluto Shinzawa about all of these thing and more in an excellent interview, and finally, DJ says THANK YOU!

Intern extraordinaire Lucy joins Jerry once again to discuss the most vexing questions in the history of mankind: can men and women coexist? What are the differences between how men and women think? And how mean can women really be?

If you play Fantasy Football then you know there are several “Elephants in the Room!” And nobody is talking about them. Are they afraid? We’re not! The Dallas Running game, Leveon Bell, Demarco Murray & Ryan Matthews in the Philly backfield, the Saints offense and so much more. Right here, WEEI’s own Jim Hackett and Pete Davidson cover all of the main “Elephants in the Room” to help you get the edge for your upcoming drafts. Enjoy!